The Accused
by Myrrat-Sade
Summary: Vernon is going to take me away from all this...


**Transcript of recorded interview**

**Date: September 17, 1979  
>Subject: Female, late teens or early 20s.<br>Crime: Assault **

**Do you know why you're here?**

I was required to be.

**Do you understand why?  
><strong>  
>Yes.<p>

**Can you tell me?**

(shuffling of paper, then reading) "Dear Miss Evans: You are required by the… "

**In your own words, please, Miss Evans.**

I "assaulted" a girl at my school.

**In your own words. Assaulted?**

I hit her a few times.

**Yes. All right. Can you tell me why?  
><strong>  
>She was (pause) a freak.<p>

**A freak?**

She was dressed funny and she was (pause) talking funny. (puse) She wasn't proper.

**You say she was dressed unusually. How was she dressed?**

She was wearing a long skirt. It was brown. And a pink shirt with smocking here (indicates chest). And beads. She was barefoot. Wearing a flower chain in her hair. And…(trails off.)

**Please continue, Miss Evans.**

And she was holding (stuttering) a. A. A…

**Take your time, but please continue.**

A (pause) stick.

**Did she, at any time, threaten you with the stick?**

No. Uhm (pause) not really. She was waving it around and singing.

**What was she singing?**

That popular song from America, from that film.

**Which film, Miss Evans?**

The Graduate.

**Was it "Sounds of Silence?"**

No, the other one.

**"Mrs. Robinson"?**

No. NO. The other one. (angry)

**"Parsley, Sage…"**

(cuts interview off, angry) Yes. THAT one.

**Was this a problem for you?**

I hate that song.

**Why?**

It sounds like a dirty, filthy spe… (bites off words, pause) I just don't like it.

**This isn't your first assault, Miss Evans. Can you tell me about the previous one?**

I was… confused.

**It says here, that last year, you attacked three actors during a performance of Hamlet.**

(quietly) Yes.

**Can you tell me why?**

I thought they were (trails off)…

**Go on.**

I thought they were doing something to me.

**Doing something? Reading a monologue? That's hardly dangero…**

No! (angry) A spell. They were chanting and stirring a cauldron…

**A cauldron? Was it the scene with the three witches…**

(cuts off interviewer) YES. I thought they were trying to hurt me. I got (pause, uncertain voice) confused.

**Sit down please, Miss Evans. No one is going to hurt you here. Ok, let's talk about something different. Tell me about your family.**

**My (pause) family?**

Tell me about your parents, please. **  
><strong>  
>Oh. (sounds relieved) Mother is nice. Pretty nice. She has a lot of work to do, Cooking, cleaning up. She likes chamomile tea. There's not much really to tell…<p>

**Your father?**

(childish voice) Father is mean.

**Can you explain?**

He yells at me a lot, ever since… (voice trails off)

**Since when?**

Since they found out my (pause, heavy breathing) sister was, er, since she was little.

**You have a sister?**

Not really.  
><strong><br>Why do you say that?**

My sister (hard voice on that word) is different.  
><strong><br>Different how?**

She's ill. There's something wrong with her.

**Ill? What kind of illness?  
><strong>  
>She's retarded. She's not a normal person. She's dangerous.<p>

**Oh?**

She, she hurts m… (pause) uhm, people. She has to go to a special school for it.

**And this caused stress for your parents?**

Yes. No. Father spoiled her because of it.

**How so?**

He loved her so much because of it. He always gave her special treats. Special presents. He treated her like a fairy princess. Always joking around with her, always having fun.

**He didn't treat you the same way?**

No! He said she was special and I was just (pause) just (soft crying)

**Have a tissue, Miss Evans.**

Thank you. (crying, nose blowing) I was just normal. He said it was okay to be normal, but I could tell. He loved her more for being a freak. Mother too, but Mother was more fair.

**Was that all?**

No. He yelled at me a lot. (pause) Locked me up in my room.

**For what?**

For (pause) just for not being like her.

**Is that all?**

Yes.

**I have a statement here, from your sister. Here's an excerpt:**

**_'__As a child, she punched my then best friend in the face and broke his nose, twice, and was punished for that both times. When I first went away to school, my sister tried to run away from home. She ended up in hospital with a severe concussion after repeatedly running head first into a wall at a train station. Another time, she was punished for breaking items belonging to me, specialized items related to my schooling, and for pouring bleach on my school uniform.' _**

**She doesn't sound retarded, does she, Miss Evans?**

(quietly) No.

**Speak up, please. Were these the punishments you spoke of?**

(still quietly) Yes. Some of them.

**What is your sister like?**

She's a freak, I told you already.

**A freak? Is she like the young woman you attacked?**

No! (pause) I don't know.

**Is she still at this special school?**

Yes. She has a boyfriend. (sounds bitter) He's just like Father, always joking, teasing.

**Let's talk about something else. You are in school now?**

Yes, teacher training.  
><strong><br>You want to be a teacher?**

Teacher, or a secretary. I don't know.

**What do you want to do with your future?**

I want to be a wife and a mother.

**Haven't you heard about Women's Lib? You don't want to do more?**

There's nothing wrong with that!

**No, no, of course. No greater ambitions, though?**

No. I'm to be married soon. (waggles finger to show engagement ring)

**Oh? To whom?**

(dreamy, childlike voice) A wonderful man. He's tall and handsome. He attended Smeltings. His family is very well-off.

**He sounds lovely.**

He's intelligent, and he's proper. He doesn't believe in mag (pause) uhm, in all this nonsense. Uhm, I mean, modern nonsense.

**Modern nonsense?**

He's a good, traditional man. He's going to get me out of this (gestures) horrible place.

**Which place?**

This place. Cokesworth. We're going to live in a proper house, in a proper village. We're going to have children, normal children. It'll be perfect. (pause) Nothing bad is going to happen, once I marry my Vernon.

**[End Interview]**

**Interviewer's Notes:**

**Accused allegedly severely assaulted a young woman at her school. Victim is described as "a hippie" by witnesses. At the time of the assault, the victim was singing folk music with friends, and allegedly tried to sing to or perhaps dance with the accused. Victim was allegedly carrying a child's "fairy wand," and may have tried to sprinkle the accused with "pixie dust," that is, glitter. The accused forced the victim to the ground and slammed the victim's head into the cobbles multiple times, calling her "witch" and yelling about witch burnings, according to witnesses. Three men on the scene of the assault were needed to contain the accused.**

**Accused has prior assaults on record, including an attack on actors during a performance of a Shakespeare play. Accused is moderately paranoid, and insists in the reality of witchcraft, professing to believe that one or more witches or wizards intend to do her harm.**

**Hysteria possible. Recommend rest and mild sedatives. Suspect Electra Complex; would like to interview future husband, "Vernon."**

** ~PEDPEDPEDPED~  
><strong>

Author Notes: Yes, there were hippies in England in 1979, as evidenced by hippie music festivals, even though it was well into the disco and punk years. The film, _Hair_, was released that year, and is said to have created a small resurgence of wanna-be hippies around the English-speaking world.

I know this is way outside the usual interests of Harry Potter Fanfiction, but I wanted to explore Petunia's possible psychosis.


End file.
